Nigeria seeks Swiss help in fuel subsidy fraud

Nigerian fuel subsidy scheme, licence to embezzle?

Nigerian investigators have asked Swiss authorities for assistance to unravel a huge potential fraud estimated to be in the region of US$6.8bn, equivalent to a quarter of the national budget.

The Nigerian government called in Swiss government help after some Swiss oil trading housing refused to cooperate with the investigation. The Nigerian probe into the fraud began in January.

Ibrahim Lamorde, chairman of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission told the press that a request was made on Friday after some of the trading houses refused to provide certain documents.

“They are not forthcoming. And most of the information is not in their Nigerian offices,” Lamorde told Reuters. “We just want information to confirm some of the things the (Nigerian fuel) marketers have said … whether they sold such products to the Nigerians or not.”

The alleged fuel scam relates to the country’s subsidy system, whereby the government buys fuel for public consumption and resells it to the population at a heavily subsidised rate. Some fraudsters have misrepresented true fuel volumes or reported the same cargo more than once — which is known as round-tripping.

Swiss authorities have asked the Nigerian authorities for additional information. “This case involves suspected subsidy fraud on imports of refined products by Nigerian companies. They acquired the oil from companies based in Geneva,” a spokesperson for the Swiss authorities told Reuters.